If offering a draw is the opposite of fighting, then playing on a completely equal position where both players cannot find a method of trying to win without playing like lunatics, forcing them to play indefinitely will cause them to lose energy and sustenance for the next game(s), which would probably cause them want to draw even earlier in their next game(s)..

I have had lower-rated opponents offer me draws at random points early in the game. I doubt they expected me to accept, so perhaps it is a tactic to irritate the opponent?

TalJechin wrote on 05/23/12 at 13:49:18:

Thanks for supporting my point of view. 

GMTonyKosten wrote on 05/23/12 at 09:54:44:

No. I'm human. Plus: It would be somewhat strange to exclude strengths and weaknesses from yourself and your opponent. Same holds for the situation (tournament, team competition, ...)

What I wanted to say: There's the position on the board, two humans, the rules of the game. Etiquette or - to say it in plain English - rules of behaviour should respect the both humans equal and give them the same behaviour rules in consequence. Deriving different behaviour rules for higher or lower ratings shows a severe lack of respect and/or self-awareness. There is no blue-blooded chess player except in the imagination of some people.

If you or someone else is really interested: I'm following here a line of thinking  I explicitly read in a work of Arnold A. Lazarus.

Offering a draw is a fighting method in chess, no more, no less. It's  there out of the three results. Restricting it takes some finesses out of the game. It's somewhat like forcing to accept gambits to me. Sounds like people not understanding what it means are trying to extinct it.

Jupp53 wrote on 05/23/12 at 08:01:17:

Are you trying to say that you are completely objective at the board? My play is always effected by outside factors, such as my opponent's rating or my tournament situation.
Anyway, TalJechin is right that there is a clear etiquette for draw offers, which will obviously disappear should agreed draws be outlawed.

Markovich wrote on 05/23/12 at 02:50:22:


Surely players will have enough common sense to repeat moves three times in completely drawn positions. 

And a draw offer doesn't necessarily end the game - your opponent can still decline and force you to play for the 50-move rule, creating a tiresome ode to persistency...

Besides, removing draw offers also removes the etiquette of draw offers, which players only seem to remember when they want to complain about their opponent...

e.g.
You can only offer once per game (according an Israeli GM/IM I talked to at a tm +10 years ago; most other players seem to find 2-3 offers feasible if 10-20 moves apart)
The clearly weaker side can never offer unless he's clearly better or winning
The clearly stronger side can offer if he's clearly worse or losing
A draw offer in a much worse position vs an equal or stronger opponent is an insult
You should make your move, offer the draw, then press the clock - in that order and in no other order ever (this one seems particularly difficult to adhere, even for titled players)

But hey, I have no doubt that making people play on and on in drawn positions will produce utterly brilliant chess. I can hardly wait for the issues of New in Chess with their scintillating analyses out to move 168, or further, in the average game. What a triumph of creativity it will be.

But wait, don't we have short time limits these days?? Oh no!!!

Quote:

Thanks! It will be really tough!
Anyway, I will see first hand how the new rules will effect everyone's behaviour.